State ready to secure funding for bioscience facility

Published: April 9, 2009 4:01 AM

COLUMBUS -- State officials are poised to sign off on funds to move forward on a long-discussed plant and animal research facility in Wooster.

The Controlling Board is scheduled to consider more than $1.1 million for the project at Ohio State University's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

The funds would go toward construction management and commissioning services, according to documents.

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OARDC director Steve Slack said the funding release is among the final steps required before accepting bids on the project and moving forward with construction.

"Assuming that everything goes well in the next week and we get some good bids, hopefully we'll be in the process of building that building come fall," he said.

The new 23,000-square-foot "biological safety level 3 isolate facility" will provide a secure facility for OARDC researchers working with infectious diseases of plants, animals and food -- work that cannot be completed in existing facilities on campus.

"Over time, our facility is getting quite old, technology has improved (and) requirements have changed in terms of expectations of facilities," Slack said. "Certainly, now is the time that we need to be doing this."

n Marc Kovac is the Dix capital bureau chief. E-mail him at mkovac@dixcom.com.